CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE

BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

IN EIGHT VOLUMES

KARL-LUDWIG SAND--1819

On the 22nd of March, 1819, about nine o'clock in the morning, a youngman, some twenty-three or twenty-four years old, wearing the dress of aGerman student, which consists of a short frock-coat with silk braiding, tight trousers, and high boots, paused upon a little eminence thatstands upon the road between Kaiserthal and Mannheim, at aboutthree-quarters of the distance from the former town, and commands a viewof the latter. Mannheim is seen rising calm and smiling amid gardenswhich once were ramparts, and which now surround and embrace it like agirdle of foliage and flowers. Having reached this spot, he liftedhis cap, above the peak of which were embroidered three interlaced oakleaves in silver, and uncovering his brow, stood bareheaded for a momentto feel the fresh air that rose from the valley of the Neckar. At firstsight his irregular features produced a strange impression; but beforelong the pallor of his face, deeply marked by smallpox, the infinitegentleness of his eyes, and the elegant framework of his long andflowing black hair, which grew in an admirable curve around a broad, high forehead, attracted towards him that emotion of sad sympathy towhich we yield without inquiring its reason or dreaming of resistance. Though it was still early, he seemed already to have come some distance, for his boots were covered with dust; but no doubt he was nearing hisdestination, for, letting his cap drop, and hooking into his belt hislong pipe, that inseparable companion of the German Borsch, he drewfrom his pocket a little note-book, and wrote in it with a pencil:"Left Wanheim at five in the morning, came in sight of Mannheim at aquarter-past nine. " Then putting his note-book back into his pocket, he stood motionless for a moment, his lips moving as though in mentalprayer, picked up his hat, and walked on again with a firm step towardsMannheim. 

This young Student was Karl-Ludwig Sand, who was coming from Jena, byway of Frankfort aid Darmstadt, in order to assassinate Kotzebue. 

Now, as we are about to set before our readers one of those terribleactions for the true appreciation of which the conscience is the solejudge, they must allow us to make them fully acquainted with him whomkings regarded as an assassin, judges as a fanatic, and the youth ofGermany as a hero. Charles Louis Sand was born on the 5th of October, 1795, at Wonsiedel, in the Fichtel Wald; he was the youngest son ofGodfrey Christopher Sand, first president and councillor of justice tothe King of Prussia, and of Dorothea Jane Wilheltmina Schapf, his wife. Besides two elder brothers, George, who entered upon a commercial careerat St, Gall, and Fritz, who was an advocate in the Berlin court ofappeal, he had an elder sister named Caroline, and a younger sistercalled Julia. 

While still in the cradle he had been attacked by smallpox of the mostmalignant type. The virus having spread through all his body, laidbare his ribs, and almost ate away his skull. For several months helay between life and death; but life at last gained the upper hand. Heremained weak and sickly, however, up to his seventh year, at whichtime a brain fever attacked him; and again put his life in danger. Asa compensation, however, this fever, when it left him, seemed to carryaway with it all vestiges of his former illness. From that moment hishealth and strength came into existence; but during these two longillnesses his education had remained very backward, and it was not untilthe age of eight that he could begin his elementary studies; moreover, his physical sufferings having retarded his intellectual development, heneeded to work twice as hard as others to reach the same result. 

Seeing the efforts that young Sand made, even while still quite a child, to conquer the defects of his organisation, Professor Salfranck, alearned and distinguished man, rector of the Hof gymnasium [college], conceived such an affection for him, that when, at a later time, he wasappointed director of the gymnasium at Ratisbon, he could not part fromhis pupil, and took him with him. In this town, and at the age of elevenyears, he gave the first proof of his courage and humanity. One day, when he was walking with some young friends, he heard cries for help, and ran in that direction: a little boy, eight or nine years old, hadjust fallen into a pond. Sand immediately, without regarding his bestclothes, of which, however, he was very proud, sprang into the water, and, after unheard-of efforts for a child of his age, succeeded inbringing the drowning boy to land. 

At the age of twelve or thirteen, Sand, who had become more active, skilful, and determined than many of his elders, often amused himself bygiving battle to the lads of the town and of the neighbouring villages. The theatre of these childish conflicts, which in their pale innocencereflected the great battles that were at that time steeping Germany inblood, was generally a plain extending from the town of Wonsiedel tothe mountain of St. Catherine, which had ruins at its top, and amid theruins a tower in excellent preservation. Sand, who was one of the mosteager fighters, seeing that his side had several times been defeated onaccount of its numerical inferiority, resolved, in order to make up forthis drawback, to fortify the tower of St. Catherine, and to retireinto it at the next battle if its issue proved unfavourable to him. He communicated this plan to his companions, who received it withenthusiasm. A week was spent, accordingly, in collecting all possibleweapons of defence in the tower and in repairing its doors and stairs. These preparations were made so secretly that the army of the enemy hadno knowledge of them. 

Sunday came: the holidays were the days of battle. Whether because theboys were ashamed of having been beaten last time, or for some otherreason, the band to which Sand belonged was even weaker thanusual. Sure, however, of a means of retreat, he accepted battle, notwithstanding. The struggle was not a long one; the one party was tooweak in numbers to make a prolonged resistance, and began to retire inthe best order that could be maintained to St. Catherine's tower, whichwas reached before much damage had been felt. Having arrived there, some of the combatants ascended to the ramparts, and while the othersdefended themselves at the foot of the wall, began to shower stones andpebbles upon the conquerors. The latter, surprised at the new method ofdefence which was now for the first time adopted, retreated a little;the rest of the defenders took advantage of the moment to retire intothe fortress and shut the door. Great was the astonishment an the partof the besiegers: they had always seen that door broken down, and lo!all at once it was presenting to them a barrier which preserved thebesieged from their blows. Three or four went off to find instrumentswith which to break it down and meanwhile the rest of the attackingfarce kept the garrison blockaded. 

At the end of half an hour the messengers returned not only with leversand picks, but also with a considerable reinforcement composed of ladsfrom, the village to which they had been to fetch tools. 

Then began the assault: Sand and his companions defended themselvesdesperately; but it was soon evident that, unless help came, thegarrison would be forced to capitulate. It was proposed that they shoulddraw lots, and that one of the besieged should be chosen, who in spiteof the danger should leave the tower, make his way as best he mightthrough the enemy's army, and go to summon the other lads of Wonsiedel, who had faint-heartedly remained at home. The tale of the peril in whichtheir Comrades actually were, the disgrace of a surrender, which wouldfall upon all of them, would no doubt overcome their indolence andinduce them to make a diversion that would allow the garrison to attemptsortie. This suggestion was adopted; but instead of leaving the decisionto chance, Sand proposed himself as the messenger. As everybody knewhis courage, his skill, and his lightness of foot, the proposition wasunanimously accepted, and the new Decius prepared to execute his act ofdevotion. The deed was not free from danger: there were but two meansof egress, one by way of the door, which would lead to the fugitive'sfalling immediately into the hands of the enemy; the other by jumpingfrom a rampart so high that the enemy had not set a guard there. Sand without a moment's hesitation went to the rampart, where, alwaysreligious, even in his childish pleasures, he made a short prayer; then, without fear, without hesitation, with a confidence that was almostsuperhuman, he sprang to the ground: the distance was twenty-two feet. Sand flew instantly to Wonsiedel, and reached it, although the enemy haddespatched their best runners in pursuit. Then the garrison, seeingthe success of their enterprise, took fresh courage, and united theirefforts against the besiegers, hoping everything from Sand's eloquence, which gave him a great influence over his young companions. And, indeed, in half an hour he was seen reappearing at the head of some thirty boysof his own age, armed with slings and crossbows. The besiegers, on thepoint of being attacked before and behind, recognised the disadvantageof their position and retreated. The victory remained with Sand's party, and all the honours of the day were his. 

We have related this anecdote in detail, that our readers may understandfrom the character of the child what was that of the man. Besides, weshall see him develop, always calm and superior amid small events asamid large ones. 

About the same time Sand escaped almost miraculously from two dangers. One day a hod full of plaster fell from a scaffold and broke at hisfeet. Another day the Price of Coburg, who during the King of Prussia'sstay at the baths of Alexander, was living in the house of Sand'sparents, was galloping home with four horses when he came suddenly uponyoung Karl in a gateway; he could not escape either on the right or theleft, without running the risk of being crushed between the wall and thewheels, and the coachman could not, when going at such a pace, hold inhis horses: Sand flung himself on his face, and the carriage passed overhim without his receiving so much as a single scratch either from thehorses or the wheels. From that moment many people regarded him aspredestined, and said that the hand of God was upon him. 

Meanwhile political events were developing themselves around the boy, and their seriousness made him a man before the age of manhood. Napoleonweighed upon Germany like another Sennacherib. Staps had tried to playthe part of Mutius Scaevola, and had died a martyr. Sand was at Hof atthat time, and was a student of the gymnasium of which his good tutorSalfranck was the head. He learned that the man whom he regarded as theantichrist was to come and review the troops in that town; he left it atonce and went home to his parents, who asked him for what reason he hadleft the gymnasium. 

"Because I could not have been in the same town with Napoleon, " heanswered, "without trying to kill him, and I do not feel my hand strongenough for that yet. "

This happened in 1809; Sand was fourteen years old. Peace, which wassigned an the 15th of October, gave Germany some respite, and allowedthe young fanatic to resume his studies without being distracted bypolitical considerations; but in 1811 he was occupied by them again, when he learned that the gymnasium was to be dissolved and its placetaken by a primary school. To this the rector Salfranck was appointedas a teacher, but instead of the thousand florins which his formerappointment brought him, the new one was worth only five hundred. Karlcould not remain in a primary school where he could not continue hiseducation; he wrote to his mother to announce this event and to tell herwith what equanimity the old German philosopher had borne it. Here isthe answer of Sand's mother; it will serve to show the character ofthe woman whose mighty heart never belied itself in the midst of theseverest suffering; the answer bears the stamp of that German mysticismof which we have no idea in France:--

"MY DEAR KARL, --You could not have given me a more grievous piece ofnews than that of the event which has just fallen upon your tutor andfather by adoption; nevertheless, terrible though it may be, do notdoubt that he will resign himself to it, in order to give to the virtueof his pupils a great example of that submission which every subjectowes to the king wham God has set over him. Furthermore, be well assuredthat in this world there is no other upright and well calculated policythan that which grows out of the old precept, 'Honour God, be justand fear not. ' And reflect also that when injustice against the worthybecomes crying, the public voice makes itself heard, and uplifts thosewho are cast down. 

"But if, contrary to all probability, this did not happen, --if Godshould impose this sublime probation upon the virtue of our friend, if the world were to disown him and Providence were to became to that, degree his debtor, --yet in that case there are, believe me, supremecompensations: all the things and all the events that occur around usand that act upon us are but machines set in motion by a Higher Hand, soas to complete our education for a higher world, in which alone we shalltake our true place. Apply yourself, therefore, my dear child, to watchover yourself unceasingly and always, so that you may not take great andfine isolated actions for real virtue, and may be ready every momentto do all that your duty may require of you. Fundamentally nothing isgreat, you see, and nothing small, when things are, looked at apart fromone another, and it is only the putting of things together that producesthe unity of evil or of good. 

"Moreover, God only sends the trial to the heart where He has putstrength, and the manner in which you tell me that your master has bornethe misfortune that has befallen him is a fresh proof of this great andeternal truth. You must form yourself upon him, my dear child, and ifyou are obliged to leave Hof for Bamberg you must resign yourself to itcourageously. Man has three educations: that which he receives from hisparents, that which circumstances impose upon him, and lastly that whichhe gives himself; if that misfortune should occur, pray to God that youmay yourself worthily complete that last education, the most importantof all. 

"I will give you as an example the life and conduct of my father, ofwhom you have not heard very much, for he died before you were born, but whose mind and likeness are reproduced in you only among all yourbrothers and sisters. The disastrous fire which reduced his nativetown to ashes destroyed his fortune and that of his relatives; griefat having lost everything--for the fire broke out in the next house tohis--cost his father his life; and while his mother, who for six yearshad been stretched an a bed of pain, where horrible convulsions held herfast, supported her three little girls by the needlework that she didin the intervals of suffering, he went as a mere clerk into one of theleading mercantile houses of Augsburg, where his lively and yet eventemper made him welcome; there he learned a calling, for which, however, he was not naturally adapted, and came back to the home of his birthwith a pure and stainless heart, in order to be the support of hismother and his sisters. 

"A man can do much when he wishes to do much: join your efforts to myprayers, and leave the rest in the hands of God. "

The prediction of this Puritan woman was fulfilled: a little timeafterwards rector Salfranck was appointed professor at Richembourg, whither Sand followed him; it was there that the events of 1813 foundhim. In the month of March he wrote to his mother:--

"I can scarcely, dear mother, express to you how calm and happy I beginto feel since I am permitted to believe in the enfranchisement of mycountry, of which I hear on every side as being so near at hand, --ofthat country which, in my faith in God, I see beforehand free andmighty, that country for whose happiness I would undergo the greatestsufferings, and even death. Take strength for this crisis. If by chanceit should reach our good province, lift your eyes to the Almighty, thencarry them back to beautiful rich nature. The goodness of God whichpreserved and protected so many men during the disastrous Thirty Years'War can do and will do now what it could and did then. As for me, Ibelieve and hope. "

Leipzig came to justify Sand's presentiments; then the year 1814arrived, and he thought Germany free. 

On the 10th of December in the same year he left Richembourg with thiscertificate from his master:--

"Karl Sand belongs to the small number of those elect young men who aredistinguished at once by the gifts of the mind and the faculties of thesoul; in application and work he surpasses all his fellow-students, and this fact explains his rapid progress in all the philosophical andphilological sciences; in mathematics only there are still some furtherstudies which he might pursue. The most affectionate wishes of histeacher follow him on his departure. 

"J. A. KEYN, "Rector, and master of the first class. 

"Richembourg, Sept. 15, 1814"

But it was really the parents of Sand, and in particular his mother, whohad prepared the fertile soil in which his teachers had sowed the seedsof learning; Sand knew this well, for at the moment of setting outfor the university of Tubingen, where he was about to complete thetheological studies necessary for becoming a pastor, as he desired todo, he wrote to them:--

"I confess that, like all my brothers and sisters, I owe to you thatbeautiful and great part of my education which I have seen to be lackingto most of those around me. Heaven alone can reward you by a convictionof having so nobly and grandly fulfilled your parental duties, amid manyothers. "

After having paid a visit to his brother at St. Gall, Sand reachedTubingen, to which he had been principally attracted by the reputationof Eschenmayer; he spent that winter quietly, and no other incidentbefell than his admission into an association of Burschen, called theTeutonic; then came tester of 1815, and with it the terrible news thatNapoleon had landed in the Gulf of Juan. Immediately all the youth ofGermany able to bear arms gathered once more around the banners of 1813and 1814. Sand followed the general example; but the action, which inothers was an effect of enthusiasm, was in him the result of calm anddeliberate resolution. He wrote to Wonsiedel on this occasion:--

"April 22, 1813

"MY DEAR PARENTS, --Until now you have found me submissive to yourparental lessons and to the advice of my excellent masters; until now Ihave made efforts to render myself worthy of the education that Godhas sent me through you, and have applied myself to become capable ofspreading the word of the Lord through my native land; and for thisreason I can to-day declare to you sincerely the decision that I lavetaken, assured that as tender and affectionate parents you will calmyourselves, and as German parents and patriots you will rather praise myresolution than seek to turn me from it. 

"The country calls once more for help, and this time the call isaddressed to me, too, for now I have courage and strength. It cast me agreat in ward struggle, believe me, to abstain when in 1813 she gave herfirst cry, and only the conviction held me back that thousands of otherswere then fighting and conquering for Germany, while I had to live farthe peaceful calling to which I was destined. Now it is a question ofpreserving our newly re-established liberty, which in so many places hasalready brought in so rich a harvest. The all-powerful and merciful Lordreserves for us this great trial, which will certainly be the last; itis for us, therefore, to show that we are worthy of the supreme giftwhich He has given us, and capable of upholding it with strength andfirmness. 

"The danger of the country has never been so great as it is now, that iswhy, among the youth of Germany, the strong should support the wavering, that all may rise together. Our brave brothers in the north are alreadyassembling from all parts under their banners; the State of Wurtemburgis, proclaiming a general levy, and volunteers are coming in from everyquarter, asking to die for their country. I consider it my duty, too, to fight for my country and for all the dear ones whom I love. If Iwere not profoundly convinced of this truth, I should not communicate myresolution to you; but my family is one that has a really German heart, and that would consider me as a coward and an unworthy son if I did notfollow this impulse. I certainly feel the greatness of the sacrifice; itcosts me something, believe me, to leave my beautiful studies and go toput myself under the orders of vulgar, uneducated people, but this onlyincreases my courage in going to secure the liberty of my brothers;moreover, when once that liberty is secured, if God deigns to allow, Iwill return to carry them His word. 

"I take leave, therefore, for a time of you, my most worthy parents, ofmy brothers, my sisters, and all who are dear to me. As, after maturedeliberation, it seems the most suitable thing for me to serve with theBavarians. I shall get myself enrolled, for as long as the war may last, with a company of that nation. Farewell, then; live happily; far awayfrom you as I shall be, I shall follow your pious exhortations. In thisnew track I shall still I hope, remain pure before God, and I shallalways try to walk in the path that rises above the things of earth andleads to those of heaven, and perhaps in this career the bliss of savingsome souls from their fall may be reserved for me. 

"Your dear image will always be about me; I will always have the Lordbefore my eyes and in my heart, so that I may endure joyfully the painsand fatigues of this holy war. Include me in your Prayers; God will sendyou the hope of better times to help you in bearing the unhappy timein which we now are. We cannot see one another again soon, unless weconquer; and if we should be conquered (which God forbid!), then my lastwish, which I pray you, I conjure you, to fulfil, my last and supremewish would be that you, my dear and deserving German relatives, shouldleave an enslaved country for some other not yet under the yoke. 

"But why should we thus sadden one another's hearts? Is not our causejust and holy, and is not God just and holy? How then should we not bevictors? You see that sometimes I doubt, so, in your letters, which I amimpatiently expecting, have pity on me and do not alarm my soul, farin any case we shall meet again in another country, and that one willalways be free and happy. 

"I am, until death, your dutiful and grateful son, "KARL SAND. "

These two lines of Korner's were written as a postscript:--

 "Perchance above our foeman lying dead We may behold the star of liberty. "

With this farewell to his parents, and with Korner's poems on his lips, Sand gave up his books, and on the 10th of May we find him in armsamong the volunteer chasseurs enrolled under the command of MajorFalkenhausen, who was at that time at Mannheim; here he found hissecond brother, who had preceded him, and they underwent all their drilltogether. 

Though Sand was not accustomed to great bodily fatigues, he enduredthose of the campaign with surprising strength, refusing all thealleviations that his superiors tried to offer him; for he would allowno one to outdo him in the trouble that he took for the good of thecountry. On the march he invariably shared: anything that he possessedfraternally with his comrades, helping those who were weaker thanhimself to carry their burdens, and, at once priest and soldier, sustaining them by his words when he was powerless to do anything more. 

On the 18th of June, at eight o'clock in the evening, he arrived uponthe field of battle at Waterloo, On the 14th of July he entered Paris. 

On the 18th of December, 1815, Karl Sand and his brother were back atWonsiedel, to the great joy of their family. He spent the Christmasholidays and the end of the year with them, but his ardour for his newvacation did not allow him to remain longer, and an the 7th of Januaryhe reached Erlangen. Then, to make up for lost time, he resolved tosubject his day to fixed and uniform rules, and to write down everyevening what he had done since the morning. It is by the help of thisjournal that we are able to follow the young enthusiast, not only in allthe actions of his life, but also in all the thoughts of his mind andall the hesitations of his conscience. In it we find his whole self, simple to naivete, enthusiastic to madness, gentle even to weaknesstowards others, severe even to asceticism towards himself. One ofhis great griefs was the expense that his education occasioned to hisparents, and every useless and costly pleasure left a remorse in hisheart. Thus, on the 9th of February 1816, he wrote:--

"I meant to go and visit my parents. Accordingly I went to the'Commers-haus', and there I was much amused. N. And T. Began upon mewith the everlasting jokes about Wonsiedel; that went on until eleveno'clock. But afterwards N. And T. Began to torment me to go to thewine-shop; I refused as long as I could. But as, at last, they seemed tothink that it was from contempt of them that I would not go and drinka glass of Rhine wine with them, I did not dare resist longer. Unfortunately, they did not stop at Braunberger; and while my glass wasstill half full, N. Ordered a bottle of champagne. When the first haddisappeared, T. Ordered a second; then, even before this second battlewas drunk, both of them ordered a third in my name and in spite of me. I returned home quite giddy, and threw myself on the sofa, where I sleptfor about an hour, and only went to bed afterwards. 

"Thus passed this shameful day, in which I have not thought enough ofmy kind and worthy parents, who are leading a poor and hard life, and inwhich I suffered myself to be led away by the example of people who havemoney into spending four florins--an expenditure which was useless, andwhich would have kept the whole family for two days. Pardon me, my God, pardon me, I beseech Thee, and receive the vow that I make never to fallinto the same fault again. In future I will live even more abstemiouslythan I usually do, so as to repair the fatal traces in my poor cash-boxof my extravagance, and not to be obliged to ask money of my motherbefore the day when she thinks of sending me some herself. "

Then, at the very time when the poor young man reproaches himself asif with a crime with having spent four florins, one of his cousins, awidow, dies and leaves three orphan children. He runs immediately tocarry the first consolations to the unhappy little creatures, entreatshis mother to take charge of the youngest, and overjoyed at her answer, thanks her thus:--

"Far the very keen joy that you have given me by your letter, and forthe very dear tone in which your soul speaks to me, bless you, O mymother! As I might have hoped and been sure, you have taken littleJulius, and that fills me afresh with the deepest gratitude towards you, the rather that, in my constant trust in your goodness, I had alreadyin her lifetime given our good little cousin the promise that you arefulfilling for me after her death. "

About March, Sand, though he did not fall ill, had an indisposition thatobliged him to go and take the waters; his mother happened at the timeto be at the ironworks of Redwitz, same twelve or fifteen miles fromWonsiedel, where the mineral springs are found. Sand establishedhimself there with his mother, and notwithstanding his desire to avoidinterrupting his work, the time taken up by baths, by invitations todinners, and even by the walks which his health required, disturbed theregularity of his usual existence and awakened his remorse. Thus we findthese lines written in his journal for April 13th:

"Life, without some high aim towards which all thoughts and actionstend, is an empty desert: my day yesterday is a proof of this; I spentit with my own people, and that, of course, was a great pleasure to me;but how did I spend it? In continual eating, so that when I wanted towork I could do nothing worth doing. Full of indolence and slackness, Idragged myself into the company of two or three sets of people, and camefrom them in the same state of mind as I went to them. "

Far these expeditions Sand made use of a little chestnut horse whichbelonged to his brother, and of which he was very fond. This littlehorse had been bought with great difficulty; for, as we have said, thewhole family was poor. The following note, in relation to the animal, will give an idea of Sand's simplicity of heart:--

"19th April

"To-day I have been very happy at the ironworks, and very industriousbeside my kind mother. In the evening I came home on the littlechestnut. Since the day before yesterday, when he got a strain and hurthis foot, he has been very restive and very touchy, and when he gothome he refused his food. I thought at first that he did not fancy hisfodder, and gave him some pieces of sugar and sticks of cinnamon, whichhe likes very much; he tasted them, but would not eat them. The poorlittle beast seems to have same other internal indisposition besideshis injured foot. If by ill luck he were to become foundered or ill, everybody, even my parents, would throw the blame on me, and yet I havebeen very careful and considerate of him. My God, my Lord, Thou whocanst do things both great and small, remove from me this misfortune, and let him recover as quickly as possible. If, however, Thou hostwilled otherwise, and if this fresh trouble is to fall upon us, Iwill try to bear it with courage, and as the expiation of same sin. Meanwhile, O my Gad, I leave this matter in Thy hands, as I leave mylife and my soul. "

On the 20th of April he wrote:--"The little horse is well; God hashelped me. "

German manners and customs are so different from ours, and contrastsoccur so frequently in the same man, on the other side of the Rhine, that anything less than all the quotations which we have given wouldhave been insufficient to place before our readers a true idea of thatcharacter made up of artlessness and reason, childishness and strength, depression and enthusiasm, material details and poetic ideas, whichrenders Sand a man incomprehensible to us. We will now continue theportrait, which still wants a few finishing touches. 

When he returned to Erlangen, after the completion of his "cure, " Sandread Faust far the first time. At first he was amazed at that work, which seemed to him an orgy of genius; then, when he had entirelyfinished it, he reconsidered his first impression, and wrote:--

"4th May

"Oh, horrible struggle of man and devil! What Mephistopheles is in meI feel far the first time in this hour, and I feel it, O God, withconsternation!

"About eleven at night I finished reading the tragedy, and I felt andsaw the fiend in myself, so that by midnight, amid my tears and despair, I was at last frightened at myself. "

Sand was falling by degrees into a deep melancholy, from which nothingcould rouse him except his desire to purify and preach morality to thestudents around him. To anyone who knows university life such a taskwill seem superhuman. Sand, however, was not discouraged, and if hecould not gain an influence over everyone, he at least succeeded informing around him a considerable circle of the most intelligent andthe best; nevertheless, in the midst of these apostolic labours strangelongings for death would overcome him; he seemed to recall heaven andwant to return to it; he called these temptations "homesickness for thesoul's country. "

His favourite authors were Lessing, Schiller, Herder, and Goethe; afterre-reading the two last for the twentieth time, this is what he wrote:

"Good and evil touch each other; the woes of the young Werther andWeisslingen's seduction, are almost the same story; no matter, we mustnot judge between what is good and what is evil in others; for that iswhat God will do. I have just been spending much time over this thought, and have become convinced that in no circumstances ought we to allowourselves to seek for the devil in others, and that we have no right tojudge; the only creature over wham we have received the power tojudge and condemn is ourself, and that gives us enough constant care, business, and trouble. 

"I have again to-day felt a profound desire to quit this world and entera higher world; but this desire is rather dejection than strength, alassitude than an upsoaring. "

The year 1816 was spent by Sand in these pious attempts upon his youngcomrades, in this ceaseless self-examination, and in the perpetualbattle which he waged with the desire for death that pursued him; everyday he had deeper doubts of himself; and on the 1st of January, 1817, hewrote this prayer in his diary:--

"Grant to me, O Lord, to me whom Thou halt endowed, in sending me onearth, with free will, the grace that in this year which we are nowbeginning I may never relax this constant attention, and not shamefullygive up the examination of my conscience which I have hitherto made. Give me strength to increase the attention which I turn upon my ownlife, and to diminish that which I turn upon the life of others;strengthen my will that it may become powerful to command the desiresof the body and the waverings of the soul; give me a pious conscienceentirely devoted to Thy celestial kingdom, that I may always belong toThee, or after failing, may be able to return to Thee. "

Sand was right in praying to God for the year 1817, and his fears werea presentiment: the skies of Germany, lightened by Leipzig and Waterloo, were once more darkened; to the colossal and universal despotism ofNapoleon succeeded the individual oppression of those little princeswho made up the Germanic Diet, and all that the nations had gained byoverthrowing the giant was to be governed by dwarfs. This was the timewhen secret societies were organised throughout Germany; let us say afew words about them, for the history that we are writing is not onlythat of individuals, but also that of nations, and every time thatoccasion presents itself we will give our little picture a wide horizon. 

The secret societies of Germany, of which, without knowing them, we haveall heard, seem, when we follow them up, like rivers, to originate insome sort of affiliation to those famous clubs of the 'illumines' andthe freemasons which made so much stir in France at the close of theeighteenth century. At the time of the revolution of '89 these differentphilosophical, political, and religious sects enthusiastically acceptedthe republican doctrines, and the successes of our first generalshave often been attributed to the secret efforts of the members. WhenBonaparte, who was acquainted with these groups, and was even said tohave belonged to them, exchanged his general's uniform for an emperor'scloak, all of them, considering him as a renegade and traitor, not onlyrose against him at home, but tried to raise enemies against him abroad;as they addressed themselves to noble and generous passions, they founda response, and princes to whom their results might be profitable seemedfor a moment to encourage them. Among others, Prince Louis of Prussiawas grandmaster of one of these societies. 

The attempted murder by Stops, to which we have already referred, wasone of the thunderclaps of the storm; but its morrow brought the peaceof Vienna, and the degradation of Austria was the death-blow of theold Germanic organisation. These societies, which had received a mortalwound in 1806 and were now controlled by the French police, instead ofcontinuing to meet in public, were forced to seek new members in thedark. In 1811 several agents of these societies were arrested in Berlin, but the Prussian authorities, following secret orders of Queen Louisa, actually protected them, so that they were easily able to deceive theFrench police about their intentions. About February 1815 the disastersof the French army revived the courage of these societies, for it wasseen that God was helping their cause: the students in particular joinedenthusiastically in the new attempts that were now begun; many collegesenrolled themselves almost entire, anal chose their principals andprofessors as captains; the poet, Korner, killed on the 18th of Octoberat Liegzig, was the hero of this campaign. 

The triumph of this national movement, which twice carried the Prussianarmy--largely composed of volunteers--to Paris, was followed, when thetreaties of 1815 and the new Germanic constitution were made known, bya terrible reaction in Germany. All these young men who, exiled by theirprinces, had risen in the name of liberty, soon perceived that they hadbeen used as tools to establish European despotism; they wished toclaim the promises that had been made, but the policy of Talleyrand andMetternich weighed on them, and repressing them at the first words theyuttered, compelled them to shelter their discontent and their hopes inthe universities, which, enjoying a kind of constitution of their own, more easily escaped the investigations made by the spies of the HolyAlliance; but, repressed as they were, these societies continuednevertheless to exist, and kept up communications by means of travellingstudents, who, bearing verbal messages, traversed Germany under thepretence of botanising, and, passing from mountain to mountain, sowedbroadcast those luminous and hopeful words of which peoples are alwaysgreedy and kings always fear. 

We have seen that Sand, carried away by the general movement, had gonethrough the campaign of 1815 as a volunteer, although he was then onlynineteen years old. On his return, he, like others, had found his goldenhopes deceived, and it is from this period that we find his journalassuming the tone of mysticism and sadness which our readers must haveremarked in it. He soon entered one of these associations, the Teutonia;and from that moment, regarding the great cause which he had taken up asa religious one, he attempted to make the conspirators worthy of theirenterprise, and thus arose his attempts to inculcate moral doctrines, in which he succeeded with some, but failed with the majority. Sand hadsucceeded, however, in forming around him a certain circle of Puritans, composed of about sixty to eighty students, all belonging to the groupof the 'Burschenschaft' which continued its political andreligious course despite all the jeers of the opposing group--the'Landmannschaft'. One of his friends called Dittmar and he werepretty much the chiefs, and although no election had given them theirauthority, they exercised so much influence upon what was decided thatin any particular case their fellow-adepts were sure spontaneously toobey any impulse that they might choose to impart. The meetings of theBurschen took place upon a little hill crowned by a ruined castle, whichwas situated at some distance from Erlangen, and which Sand and Dittmarhad called the Ruttli, in memory of the spot where Walter Furst, Melchthal, and Stauffacher had made their vow to deliver their country;there, under the pretence of students' games, while they built up a newhouse with the ruined fragments, they passed alternately from symbol toaction and from action to symbol. 

Meanwhile the association was making such advances throughout Germanythat not only the princes and kings of the German confederation, butalso the great European powers, began to be uneasy. France sentagents to bring home reports, Russia paid agents on the spot, and thepersecutions that touched a professor and exasperated a whole universityoften arose from a note sent by the Cabinet of the Tuileries or of St. Petersburg. 

It was amid the events that began thus that Sand, after commendinghimself to the protection of God, began the year 1817, in the sad moodin which we have just seen him, and in which he was kept rather by adisgust for things as they were than by a disgust for life. On the 8thof May, preyed upon by this melancholy, which he cannot conquer, andwhich comes from the disappointment of all his political hopes, hewrites in his diary:

"I shall find it impassible to set seriously to work, and this idletemper, this humour of hypochondria which casts its black veil overeverything in life, --continues and grows in spite of the moral activitywhich I imposed on myself yesterday. "

In the holidays, fearing to burden his parents with any additionalexpense, he will not go home, and prefers to make a walking tour withhis friends. No doubt this tour, in addition to its recreative side, hada political aim. Be that as it may, Sand's diary, during the period ofhis journey, shows nothing but the names of the towns through which hepassed. That we may have a notion of Sand's dutifulness to his parents, it should be said that he did not set out until he had obtained hismother's permission. On their return, Sand, Dittmar, and their friendsthe Burschen, found their Ruttli sacked by their enemies of theLandmannschaft; the house that they had built was demolished and itsfragments dispersed. Sand took this event for an omen, and was greatlydepressed by it. 

"It seems to me, O my God!" he says in his journal, "that everythingswims and turns around me. My soul grows darker and darker; my moralstrength grows less instead of greater; I work and cannot achieve;walk towards my aim and do not reach it; exhaust myself, and do nothinggreat. The days of life flee one after another; cares and uneasinessincrease; I see no haven anywhere for our sacred German cause. Theend will be that we shall fall, for I myself waver. O Lord and Father!protect me, save me, and lead me to that land from which we are for everdriven back by the indifference of wavering spirits. "

About this time a terrible event struck Sand to the heart; his friendDittmar was drowned. This is what he wrote in his diary on the verymorning of the occurrence:

"Oh, almighty God! What is going to become of me? For the last fortnightI have been drawn into disorder, and have not been able to compel myselfto look fixedly either backward or forward in my life, so that from the4th of June up to the present hour my journal has remained empty. Yetevery day I might have had occasion to praise Thee, O my God, butmy soul is in anguish. Lord, do not turn from me; the more are theobstacles the more need is there of strength. "

In the evening he added these few words to the lines that he had writtenin the morning:--

"Desolation, despair, and death over my friend, over my very deeplyloved Dittmar. "

This letter which he wrote to his family contains the account of thetragic event:--

"You know that when my best friends, A. , C. , and Z. , were gone, I becameparticularly intimate with my well-beloved Dittmar of Anspach; Dittmar, that is to say a true and worthy German, an evangelical Christian, something more, in short, than a man! An angelic soul, always turnedtoward the good, serene, pious, and ready for action; he had come tolive in a room next to mine in Professor Grunler's house; we loved eachother, upheld each other in our efforts, and, well or ill, bare our goodor evil fortune in common. On this last spring evening, after havingworked in his room and having strengthened ourselves anew to resist allthe torments of life and to advance towards the aim that we desired toattain; we went, about seven in the evening, to the baths of Redwitz. Avery black storm was rising in the sky, but only as yet appeared onthe horizon. E. , who was with us, proposed to go home, but Dittmarpersisted, saying that the canal was but a few steps away. God permittedthat it should not be I who replied with these fatal words. So he wenton. The sunset was splendid: I see it still; its violet clouds allfringed with gold, for I remember the smallest details of that evening. 

"Dittmar went down first; he was the only one of us who knew how toswim; so he walked before us to show us the depth. The water was aboutup to our chests, and he, who preceded us, was up to his shoulders, when he warned us not to go farther, because he was ceasing to feelthe bottom. He immediately gave up his footing and began to swim, butscarcely had he made ten strokes when, having reached the place wherethe river separates into two branches, he uttered a cry, and as hewas trying to get a foothold, disappeared. We ran at once to the bank, hoping to be able to help him more easily; but we had neither poles norropes within reach, and, as I have told you, neither of us could swim. Then we called for help with all our might. At that moment Dittmarreappeared, and by an unheard-of effort seized the end of a willowbranch that was hanging over the water; but the branch was not strongenough to resist, and our friend sank again, as though he had beenstruck by apoplexy. Can you imagine the state in which we were, we hisfriends, bending over the river, our fixed and haggard eyes trying topierce its depth? My God, my God! how was it we did not go mad?

"A great crowd, however, had run at our cries. For two hours they soughtfar him with boats and drag-hooks; and at last they succeeded in drawinghis body from the gulf. Yesterday we bore it solemnly to the field ofrest. 

"Thus with the end of this spring has begun the serious summer of mylife. I greeted it in a grave and melancholy mood, and you behold menow, if not consoled, at least strengthened by religion, which, thanksto the merits of Christ, gives me the assurance of meeting my friend inheaven, from the heights of which he will inspire me with strength tosupport the trials of this life; and now I do not desire anything moreexcept to know you free from all anxiety in regard to me. "

Instead of serving to unite the two groups of students in a commongrief, this accident, on the contrary, did but intensify their hatred ofeach other. Among the first persons who ran up at the cries of Sand andhis companion was a member of the Landmannschaft who could swim, butinstead of going to Dittmar's assistance he exclaimed, "It seems thatwe shall get rid of one of these dogs of Burschen; thank God!"Notwithstanding this manifestation of hatred, which, indeed, might bethat of an individual and not of the whole body, the Burschen invitedtheir enemies to be present at Dittmar's funeral. A brutal refusal, anda threat to disturb the ceremony by insults to the corpse, formed theirsole reply. The Burschen then warned the authorities, who took suitablemeasures, and all Dittmar's friends followed his coffin sword in hand. Beholding this calm but resolute demonstration, the Landmannschaftdid not dare to carry out their threat, and contented themselves withinsulting the procession by laughs and songs. 

Sand wrote in his journal:

"Dittmar is a great loss to all of us, and particularly to me; he gaveme the overflow of his strength and life; he stopped, as it were, with an embankment, the part of my character that is irresoluteand undecided. From him it is that I have learned not to dread theapproaching storm, and to know how to fight and die. "

Some days after the funeral Sand had a quarrel about Dittmar with oneof his former friends, who had passed over from the Burschen to theLandmannschaft, and who had made himself conspicuous at the time of thefuneral by his indecent hilarity. It was decided that they should fightthe next day, and on the same day Sand wrote in his journal. 

"To-morrow I am to fight with P. G. ; yet Thou knowest, O my God, whatgreat friends we formerly were, except for a certain mistrust with whichhis coldness always inspired me; but on this occasion his odious conducthas caused me to descend from the tenderest pity to the profoundesthatred. 

"My God, do not withdraw Thy hand either from him or from me, since weare both fighting like men! Judge only by our two causes, and give thevictory to that which is the more just. If Thou shouldst call me beforeThy supreme tribunal, I know very well that I should appear burdenedwith an eternal malediction; and indeed it is not upon myself that Ireckon but upon the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

"Come what may, be praised and blessed, O my God!

"My dear parents, brothers, and friends, I commend you to the protectionof God. "

Sand waited in vain for two hours next day: his adversary did not cometo the meeting place. 

The loss of Dittmar, however, by no means produced the result upon Sandthat might have been expected, and that he himself seems to indicatein the regrets he expressed for him. Deprived of that strong soul uponwhich he rested, Sand understood that it was his task by redoubledenergy to make the death of Dittmar less fatal to his party. And indeedhe continued singly the work of drawing in recruits which they had beencarrying on together, and the patriotic conspiracy was not for a momentimpeded. 

The holidays came, and Sand left Erlangen to return no more. FromWonsiedel he was to proceed to Jena, in order to complete histheological studies there. After some days spent with his family, andindicated in his journal as happy, Sand went to his new place of abode, where he arrived some time before the festival of the Wartburg. Thisfestival, established to celebrate the anniversary of the battle ofLeipzig, was regarded as a solemnity throughout Germany, and althoughthe princes well knew that it was a centre for the annual renewal ofaffiliation to the various societies, they dared not forbid it. Indeed, the manifesto of the Teutonic Association was exhibited at thisfestival and signed by more than two thousand deputies from differentuniversities in Germany. This was a day of joy for Sand; for he found inthe midst of new friends a great number of old ones. 

The Government, however, which had not 'dared to attack the Associationby force, resolved to undermine it by opinion. M. De Stauren publisheda terrible document, attacking the societies, and founded, it was said, upon information furnished by Kotzebue. This publication made a greatstir, not only at Jena, but throughout all Germany. Here is the trace ofthis event that we find in Sand's journal:--

24th November "Today, after working with much ease and assiduity, Iwent out about four with E. As we crossed the market-place we heardKotzebue's new and venomous insult read. By what a fury that man ispossessed against the Burschen and against all who love Germany!"

Thus far the first time and in these terms Sand's journal presents thename of the man who, eighteen months later, he was to slay. 

The Government, however, which had not 'dared to attack the Associationby force, resolved to undermine it by opinion. M. De Stauren publisheda terrible document, attacking the societies, and founded, it was said, upon information furnished by Kotzebue. This publication made a greatstir, not only at Jena, but throughout all Germany. Here is the trace ofthis event that we find in Sand's journal:

24th November

"To-day, after working with much ease and assiduity, I went out aboutfour with E. As we crossed the market-place we heard Kotzebue's new andvenomous insult read. By what a fury that man is possessed against theBurschen and against all who love Germany!"

Thus for the first time and in these terms Sand's journal presents thename of the man who, eighteen months later, he was to slay. 

On the 29th, in the evening, Sand writes again:

"To-morrow I shall set out courageously and joyfully from this place fora pilgrimage to Wonsiedel; there I shall find my large-hearted motherand my tender sister Julia; there I shall cool my head and warm myheart. Probably I shall be present at my good Fritz's marriage withLouisa, and at the baptism of my very dear Durchmith's first-born. God, O my Father, as Thou hast been with me during my sad course, be with mestill on my happy road. "

This journey did in fact greatly cheer Sand. Since Dittmar's death hisattacks of hypochondria had disappeared. While Dittmar lived he mightdie; Dittmar being dead, it was his part to live. 

On the 11th of December he left Wonsiedel, to return to Jena, and on the31st of the same month he wrote this prayer in his journal. 

"O merciful Saviour! I began this year with prayer, and in these lastdays I have been subject to distraction and ill-disposed. When I lookbackward, I find, alas! that I have not become better; but I haveentered more profoundly into life, and, should occasion present, I nowfeel strength to act. 

"It is because Thou hast always been with me, Lord, even when I was notwith Thee. "

If our readers have followed with some attention the different extractsfrom the journal that we have placed before them, they must have seenSand's resolution gradually growing stronger and his brain becomingexcited. From the beginning of the year 1818, one feels his view, whichlong was timid and wandering, taking in a wider horizon and fixingitself on a nobler aim. He is no longer ambitious of the pastor'ssimple life or of the narrow influence which he might gain in a littlecommunity, and which, in his juvenile modesty, had seemed the heightof good fortune and happiness; it is now his native land, his Germanpeople, nay, all humanity, which he embraces in his gigantic plans ofpolitical regeneration. Thus, on the flyleaf of his journal for the year1818, he writes:

"Lord, let me strengthen myself in the idea that I have conceived of thedeliverance of humanity by the holy sacrifice of Thy Son. Grant that Imay be a Christ of Germany, and that, like and through Jesus, I may bestrong and patient in suffering. "

But the anti-republican pamphlets of Kotzebue increased in numberand gained a fatal influence upon the minds of rulers. Nearly all thepersons who were attacked in these pamphlets were known and esteemed atJena; and it may easily be comprehended what effects were produced bysuch insults upon these young heads and noble hearts, which carriedconviction to the paint of blindness and enthusiasm to that offanaticism. 

Thus, here is what Sand wrote in his diary on the 5th of May. 

"Lord, what causes this melancholy anguish which has again takenpossession of me? But a firm and constant will surmounts everything, and the idea of the country gives joy and courage to the saddest andthe weakest. When I think of that, I am always amazed that there is noneamong us found courageous enough to drive a knife into the breast ofKotzebue or of any other traitor. "

Still dominated by the same thought, he continues thus on the 18th ofMay:--

"A man is nothing in comparison with a nation; he is a unity comparedwith millions, a minute compared with a century. A man, whom nothingprecedes and nothing follows, is born, lives, and dies in a longer orshorter time, which, relatively to eternity, hardly equals the durationof a lightning flash. A nation, on the contrary, is immortal. "

From time to time, however, amid these thoughts that bear the impressof that political fatality which was driving him towards the deed ofbloodshed, the kindly and joyous youth reappears. On the 24th of June hewrites to his mother:--

"I have received your long and beautiful letter, accompanied by the verycomplete and well-chosen outfit which you send me. The sight of thisfine linen gave me back one of the joys of my childhood. These are freshbenefits. My prayers never remain unfulfilled, and I have continualcause to thank you and God. I receive, all at once, shirts, two pairs offine sheets, a present of your work, and of Julia's and Caroline'swork, dainties and sweetmeats, so that I am still jumping with joy and Iturned three times on my heels when I opened the little parcel. Receivethe thanks of my heart, and share, as giver, in the joy of him who hasreceived. 

"Today, however, is a very serious day, the last day of spring and theanniversary of that on which I lost my noble and good Dittmar. I am aprey to a thousand different and confused feelings; but I have only twopassions left in me which remain upright and like two pillars ofbrass support this whole chaos--the thought of God and the love of mycountry. "

During all this time Sand's life remains apparently calm and equal; theinward storm is calmed; he rejoices in his application to work and hischeerful temper. However, from time to time, he makes great complaintsto himself of his propensity to love dainty food, which he does notalways find it possible to conquer. Then, in his self-contempt, he callshimself "fig-stomach" or "cake-stomach. " But amid all this the religiousand political exaltation and visits all the battlefields near to theroad that he follows. On the 18th of October he is back at Jena, wherehe resumes his studies with more application than ever. It is amongsuch university studies that the year 1818 closes far him, and we shouldhardly suspect the terrible resolution which he has taken, were it notthat we find in his journal this last note, dated the 31st of December:

"I finish the last day of this year 1818, then, in a serious and solemnmood, and I have decided that the Christmas feast which has just gone bywill be the last Christmas feast that I shall celebrate. If anything isto come of our efforts, if the cause of humanity is to assume the upperhand in our country, if in this faithless epoch any noble feelings canspring up afresh and make way, it can only happen if the wretch, thetraitor, the seducer of youth, the infamous Kotzebue, falls! I am fullyconvinced of this, and until I have accomplished the work upon which Ihave resolved, I shall have no rest. Lord, Thou who knowest that I havedevoted my life to this great action, I only need, now that it is fixedin my mind, to beg of Thee true firmness and courage of soul. "

Here Sand's diary ends; he had begun it to strengthen himself; hehad reached his aim; he needed nothing more. From this moment he wasoccupied by nothing but this single idea, and he continued slowly tomature the plan in his head in order to familiarise himself with itsexecution; but all the impressions arising from this thought remained inhis own mind, and none was manifested on the surface. To everyone elsehe was the same; but for some little time past, a complete and unalteredserenity, accompanied by a visible and cheerful return of inclinationtowards life, had been noticed in him. He had made no charge in thehours or the duration of his studies; but he had begun to attend theanatomical classes very assiduously. One day he was seen to give evenmore than his customary attention to a lesson in which the professor wasdemonstrating the various functions of the heart; he examined with thegreatest care the place occupied by it in the chest, asking to have someof the demonstrations repeated two or three times, and when he wentout, questioning some of the young men who were following the medicalcourses, about the susceptibility of the organ, which cannot receiveever so slight a blow without death ensuing from that blow: all thiswith so perfect an indifference and calmness that no one about himconceived any suspicion. 

Another day, A. S. , one of his friends, came into his room. Sand, whohad heard him coming up, was standing by the table, with a paper-knifein his hand, waiting for him; directly the visitor came in, Sand flunghimself upon him, struck him lightly on the forehead; and then, as heput up his hands to ward off the blow, struck him rather more violentlyin the chest; then, satisfied with this experiment, said:--

"You see, when you want to kill a man, that is the way to do it; youthreaten the face, he puts up his hands, and while he does so you thrusta dagger into his heart. "

The two young men laughed heartily over this murderous demonstration, and A. S. Related it that evening at the wine-shop as one of thepeculiarities of character that were common in his friend. After theevent, the pantomime explained itself. 

The month of March arrived. Sand became day by day calmer, moreaffectionate, and kinder; it might be thought that in the moment ofleaving his friends for ever he wished to leave them an ineffaceableremembrance of him. At last he announced that on account of severalfamily affairs he was about to undertake a little journey, and set aboutall his preparations with his usual care, but with a serenity neverpreviously seen in him. Up to that time he had continued to work asusual, not relaxing for an instant; for there was a possibility thatKotzebue might die or be killed by somebody else before the term thatSand had fixed to himself, and in that case he did not wish to havelost time. On the 7th of March he invited all his friends to spend theevening with him, and announced his departure for the next day butone, the 9th. All of them then proposed to him to escort him for someleagues, but Sand refused; he feared lest this demonstration, innocentthough it were, might compromise them later on. He set forth alone, therefore, after having hired his lodgings for another half-year, inorder to obviate any suspicion, and went by way of Erfurt and Eisenach, in order to visit the Wartburg. From that place he went to Frankfort, where he slept on the 17th, and on the morrow he continued his journeyby way of Darmstadt. At last, on the 23rd, at nine in the morning, he arrived at the top of the little hill where we found him at thebeginning of this narrative. Throughout the journey he had been theamiable and happy young man whom no one could see without liking. 

Having reached Mannheim, he took a room at the Weinberg, and wrote hisname as "Henry" in the visitors' list. He immediately inquired whereKotzebue lived. The councillor dwelt near the church of the Jesuits; hishouse was at the corner of a street, and though Sand's informants couldnot tell him exactly the letter, they assured him it was not possibleto mistake the house. [At Mannheim houses are marked by letters, not bynumbers. ]

Sand went at once to Kotzebue's house: it was about ten o'clock; he wastold that the councillor went to walk for an hour or two every morningin the park of Mannheim. Sand inquired about the path in which hegenerally walked, and about the clothes he wore, for never having seenhim he could only recognise him by the description. Kotzebue chanced totake another path. Sand walked about the park for an hour, but seeingno one who corresponded to the description given him, went back to thehouse. 

Kotzebue had come in, but was at breakfast and could not see him. 

Sand went back to the Weinberg, and sat down to the midday table d'hote, where he dined with an appearance of such calmness, and even of suchhappiness, that his conversation, which was now lively, now simple, andnow dignified, was remarked by everybody. At five in the afternoon hereturned a third time to the house of Kotzebue, who was giving a greatdinner that day; but orders had been given to admit Sand. He was showninto a little room opening out of the anteroom, and a moment after, Kotzebue came in. 

Sand then performed the drama which he had rehearsed upon his friend A. S. Kotzebue, finding his face threatened, put his hands up to it, andleft his breast exposed; Sand at once stabbed him to the heart; Kotzebuegave one cry, staggered, and fell back into an arm-chair: he was dead. 

At the cry a little girl of six years old ran in, one of those charmingGerman children, with the faces of cherubs, blue-eyed, with long flowinghair. She flung herself upon the body of Kotzebue, calling her fatherwith piercing cries. Sand, standing at the door, could not endure thissight, and without going farther, he thrust the dagger, still coveredwith Kotzebue's blood, up to the hilt into his own breast. Then, seeingto his surprise that notwithstanding the terrible wound--he had justgiven himself he did not feel the approach of death, and not wishing tofall alive into the hands of the servants who were running in, he rushedto the staircase. The persons who were invited were just coming in;they, seeing a young man, pale and bleeding with a knife in his breast, uttered loud cries, and stood aside, instead of stopping him. Sandtherefore passed down the staircase and reached the street below; tenpaces off, a patrol was passing, on the way to relieve the sentinels atthe castle; Sand thought these men had been summoned by the cries thatfollowed him; he threw himself on his knees in the middle of the street, and said, "Father, receive my soul!"

Then, drawing the knife from the wound, he gave himself a second blowbelow the former, and fell insensible. 

Sand was carried to the hospital and guarded with the utmost strictness;the wounds were serious, but, thanks to the skill of the physicians whowere called in, were not mortal; one of them even healed eventually; butas to the second, the blade having gone between the costal pleura andthe pulmonary pleura, an effusion of blood occurred between the twolayers, so that, instead of closing the wound, it was kept carefullyopen, in order that the blood extravasated during the night might bedrawn off every morning by means of a pump, as is done in the operationfor empyaemia. 

Notwithstanding these cares, Sand was for three months between life anddeath. 

When, on the 26th of March, the news of Kotzebue's assassination camefrom Mannheim to Jena, the academic senate caused Sand's room to beopened, and found two letters--one addressed to his friends of theBurschenschaft, in which he declared that he no longer belonged to theirsociety, since he did not wish that their brotherhood should includea man about to die an the scaffold. The other letter, which bore thissuperscription, "To my nearest and dearest, " was an exact account ofwhat he meant to do, and the motives which had made him determine uponthis act. Though the letter is a little long, it is so solemn and soantique in spirit, that we do not hesitate to present it in its entiretyto our readers:--

"To all my own

"Loyal and eternally cherished souls

"Why add still further to your sadness? I asked myself, and I hesitatedto write to you; but my silence would have wounded the religion ofthe heart; and the deeper a grief the more it needs, before it can beblotted out, to drain to the dregs its cup of bitterness. Forth frommy agonised breast, then; forth, long and cruel torment of a lastconversation, which alone, however, when sincere, can alleviate the painof parting. 

"This letter brings you the last farewell of your son and your brother. 

"The greatest misfortune of life far any generous heart is to see thecause of God stopped short in its developments by our fault; andthe most dishonouring infamy would be to suffer that the fine thingsacquired bravely by thousands of men, and far which thousands of menhave joyfully sacrificed themselves, should be no more than a transientdream, without real and positive consequences. The resurrection of ourGerman life was begun in these last twenty years, and particularly inthe sacred year 1813, with a courage inspired by God. But now the houseof our fathers is shaken from the summit to the base. Forward! let usraise it, new and fair, and such as the true temple of the true Godshould be. 

"Small is the number of those who resist, and who wish to opposethemselves as a dyke against the torrent of the progress of higherhumanity among the German people. Why should vast whole masses bowbeneath the yoke of a perverse minority? And why, scarcely healed, should we fall back into a worse disease than that which we are leavingbehind?

"Many of these seducers, and those are the most infamous, are playingthe game of corruption with us; among them is Kotzebue, the most cunningand the worst of all, a real talking machine emitting all sorts ofdetestable speech and pernicious advice. His voice is skillful inremoving from us all anger and bitterness against the most unjustmeasures, and is just such as kings require to put us to sleep againin that old hazy slumber which is the death of nations. Every day heodiously betrays his country, and nevertheless, despite his treason, remains an idol for half Germany, which, dazzled by him, acceptsunresisting the poison poured out by him in his periodic pamphlets, wrapped up and protected as he is by the seductive mantle of a greatpoetic reputation. Incited by him, the princes of Germany, who haveforgotten their promises, will allow nothing free or good to beaccomplished; or if anything of the kind is accomplished in spite ofthem, they will league themselves with the French to annihilate it. Thatthe history of our time may not be covered with eternal ignominy, it isnecessary that he should fall. 

"I have always said that if we wish to find a great and supreme remedyfor the state of abasement in which we are, none must shrink from combatnor from suffering; and the real liberty of the German people will onlybe assured when the good citizen sets himself or some other stake uponthe game, and when every true son of the country, prepared for thestruggle for justice, despises the good things of this world, and onlydesires those celestial good things which death holds in charge. 

"Who then will strike this miserable hireling, this venal traitor?

"I have long been waiting in fear, in prayer, and in tears--I who amnot born for murder--for some other to be beforehand with me, to set mefree, and suffer me to continue my way along the sweet and peaceful paththat I had chosen for myself. Well, despite my prayers and my tears, he who should strike does not present himself; indeed, every man, like myself, has a right to count upon some other, and everyone thuscounting, every hour's delay, but makes our state worse; far at anymoment--and how deep a shame would that be for us! Kotzebue may leaveGermany, unpunished, and go to devour in Russia the treasures for whichhe has exchanged his honour, his conscience, and his German name. Whocan preserve us from this shame, if every man, if I myself, do notfeel strength to make myself the chosen instrument of God's justice?Therefore, forward! It shall be I who will courageously rush upon him(do not be alarmed), on him, the loathsome seducer; it shall be I whowill kill the traitor, so that his misguiding voice, being extinguished, shall cease to lead us astray from the lessons of history and from theSpirit of God. An irresistible and solemn duty impels me to this deed, ever since I have recognised to what high destinies the German; nationmay attain during this century, and ever since I have come to know thedastard and hypocrite who alone prevents it from reaching them; for me, as for every German who seeks the public good, this desire has becamea strict and binding necessity. May I, by this national vengeance, indicate to all upright and loyal consciences where the true dangerlies, and save our vilified and calumniated societies from the imminentdanger that threatens them! May I, in short, spread terror among thecowardly and wicked, and courage and faith among the good! Speeches andwritings lead to nothing; only actions work. 

"I will act, therefore; and though driven violently away from my fairdreams of the future, I am none the less full of trust in God; I evenexperience a celestial joy, now that, like the Hebrews when they soughtthe promised land, I see traced before me, through darkness and death, that road at the end of which I shall have paid my debt to my country. 

"Farewell, then, faithful hearts: true, this early separation is hard;true, your hopes, like my wishes, are disappointed; but let us beconsoled by the primary thought that we have done what the voice of ourcountry called upon us to do; that, you knew, is the principle accordingto which I have always lived. You will doubtless say among yourselves, 'Yes, thanks to our sacrifices, he had learned to know life and to tastethe joys of earth, and he seemed: deeply to love his native countryand the humble estate to which he was called'. Alas, yes, that is true!Under your protection, and amid your numberless sacrifices, my nativeland and life had become profoundly dear to me. Yes, thanks to you, Ihave penetrated into the Eden of knowledge, and have lived the free lifeof thought; thanks to you, I have looked into history, and have thenreturned to my own conscience to attach myself to the solid pillars offaith in the Eternal. 

"Yes, I was to pass gently through this life as a preacher of thegospel; yes, in my constancy to my calling I was to be sheltered fromthe storms of this existence. But would that suffice to avert the dangerthat threatens Germany? And you yourselves, in your infinite lave, should you not rather push me on to risk my life for the good of all?So many modern Greeks have fallen already to free their country from theyoke of the Turks, and have died almost without any result and withoutany hope; and yet thousands of fresh martyrs keep up their courage andare ready to fall in their turn; and should I, then, hesitate to die?

"That I do not recognise your love, or that your love is but a triflingconsideration with me, you will not believe. What else should impel meto die if not my devotion to you and to Germany, and the need of provingthis devotion to my family and my country?

"You, mother, will say, 'Why have I brought up a son whom I loved andwho loved me, for whom I have undergone a thousand cares and toils, who, thanks to my prayers and my example, was impressionable to goodinfluences, and from whom, after my long and weary course, I hoped toreceive attentions like those which I have given him? Why does he nowabandon me?'

"Oh, my kind and tender mother! Yes, you will perhaps say that; butcould not the mother of anyone else say the same, and everything go offthus in words when there is need to act for the country? And if no onewould act, what would become of that mother of us all who is calledGermany?

"But no; such complaints are far from you, you noble woman! I understoodyour appeal once before, and at this present hour, if no one cameforward in the German cause, you yourself would urge me to the fight. Ihave two brothers and two sisters before me, all noble and loyal. Theywill remain to you, mother; and besides you will have for sons all thechildren of Germany who love their country. 

"Every man has a destiny which he has to accomplish: mine is devoted tothe action that I am about to undertake; if I were to live another fiftyyears, I could not live more happily than I have done lately. Farewell, mother: I commend you to the protection of God; may He raise you to thatjoy which misfortunes can no longer trouble! Take your grandchildren, to whom I should so much have liked to be a loving friend, to the topof our beautiful mountains soon. There, on that altar raised by the LordHimself in the midst of Germany, let them devote themselves, swearing totake up the sword as soon as they have strength to lift it, and tolay it down only when our brethren are all united in liberty, whenall Germans, having a liberal constitution; are great before the Lord, powerful against their neighbours, and united among themselves. 

"May my country ever raise her happy gaze to Thee, Almighty Father! MayThy blessing fall abundantly upon her harvests ready to be cut and herarmies ready for battle, and recognising the blessings that Thou hostshowered upon us, may the German nation ever be first among nations torise and uphold the cause of humanity, which is Thy image upon earth!

"Your eternally attached son, brother and friend, "KARL-LUDWIG SAND. 

"JENA, the beginning of March, 1819. "

Sand, who, as we have said, had at first been taken to the hospital, wasremoved at the end of three months to the prison at Mannheim, where thegovernor, Mr. G----, had caused a room to be prepared for him. There heremained two months longer in a state of extreme weakness: his left armwas completely paralysed; his voice was very weak; every movement gavehim horrible pain, and thus it was not until the 11th of August--that isto say, five months after the event that we have narrated--that he wasable to write to his family the following letter:--

"MY VERY DEAR PARENTS:--The grand-duke's commission of inquiry informedme yesterday that it might be possible I should have the intense joyof a visit from you, and that I might perhaps see you here and embraceyou--you, mother, and some of my brothers and sisters. 

"Without being surprised at this fresh proof of your motherly love, Ihave felt an ardent remembrance reawaken of the happy life that we spentgently together. Joy and grief, desire and sacrifice, agitate my heartviolently, and I have had to weigh these various impulses one againstthe other, and with the force of reason, in order to resume mastery ofmyself and to take a decision in regard to my wishes. 

"The balance has inclined in the direction of sacrifice. 

"You know, mother, how much joy and courage a look from your eyes, dailyintercourse with you, and your pious and high-minded conversation, mightbring me during my very short time. But you also know my position, andyou are too well acquainted with the natural course of all thesepainful inquiries, not to feel as I do, that such annoyance, continuallyrecurring, would greatly trouble the pleasure of our companionship, ifit did not indeed succeed in entirely destroying it. Then, mother, afterthe long and fatiguing journey that you would be obliged to make inorder to see me, think of the terrible sorrow of the farewell whenthe moment came to part in this world. Let us therefore abide by thesacrifice, according to God's will, and let us yield ourselves onlyto that sweet community of thought which distance cannot interrupt, inwhich I find my only joys, and which, in spite of men, will always begranted us by the Lord, our Father. 

"As for my physical state, I knew nothing about it. You see, however, since at last I am writing to you myself, that I have come past my firstuncertainties. As for the rest, I know too little of the structure of myown body to give any opinion as to what my wounds may determine for it. Except that a little strength has returned to me, its state is still thesame, and I endure it calmly and patiently; for God comes to my help, and gives me courage and firmness. He will help me, believe me, to findall the joys of the soul and to be strong in mind. Amen. 

"May you live happy!--Your deeply respectful son, "KARL-LUDWIG SAND. "

A month after this letter came tender answers from all the family. Wewill quote only that of Sand's mother, because it completes the ideawhich the reader may have formed already of this great-hearted woman, asher son always calls her. 

"DEAR, INEXPRESSIBLY DEAR KARL, --How Sweet it was to me to see thewriting of your beloved hand after so long a time! No journey would havebeen so painful and no road so long as to prevent me from coming to you, and I would go, in deep and infinite love, to any end of the earth inthe mere hope of catching sight of you. 

"But, as I well know both your tender affection and your profoundanxiety for me, and as you give me, so firmly and upon such manlyreflection, reasons against which I can say nothing, and which I canbut honour, it shall be, my well-beloved Karl, as you have wished anddecided. We will continue, without speech, to communicate our thoughts;but be satisfied, nothing can separate us; I enfold you in my soul, andmy material thoughts watch over you. 

"May this infinite love which upholds us, strengthens us, and leads usall to a better life, preserve, dear Karl, your courage and firmness. 

"Farewell, and be invariably assured that I shall never cease to loveyou strongly and deeply. 

"Your faithful mother, who loves you to eternity. "

Sand replied:--

"January 1820, from my isle of Patmos. 

"MY DEAR PARENTS, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS, --

"In the middle of the month of September last year I received, throughthe grand-duke's special commission of inquiry, whose humanity you havealready appreciated, your dear letters of the end of August and thebeginning of September, which had such magical influence that theyinundated me with joy by transporting me into the inmost circle of yourhearts. 

"You, my tender father, you write to me on the sixty-seventh anniversaryof your birth, and you bless me by the outpouring of your most tenderlove. 

"You, my well-beloved mother, you deign to promise the continuanceof your maternal affection, in which I have at all times constantlybelieved; and thus I have received the blessings of both of you, which, in my present position, will exercise a more beneficent influenceupon me than any of the things that all the kings of the earth, unitedtogether, could grant me. Yes, you strengthen me abundantly by yourblessed love, and I render thanks to you, my beloved parents, with thatrespectful submission that my heart will always inculcate as the firstduty of a son. 

"But the greater your love and the more affectionate your letters, themore do I suffer, I must acknowledge, from the voluntary sacrifice thatwe have imposed upon ourselves in not seeing one another; and the onlyreason, my dear parents, why I have delayed to reply to you, was to givemyself time to recover the strength which I have lost. 

"You too, dear brother-in-law and dear sister, assure me of your sincereand uninterrupted attachment. And yet, after the fright that I havespread among you all, you seem not to know exactly what to think of me;but my heart, full of gratitude for your past kindness, comforts itself;for your actions speak and tell me that, even if you wished no longerto love me as I love you, you would not be able to do otherwise. Theseactions mean more to me at this hour than any possible protestations, nay, than even the tenderest words. 

"And you also, my kind brother, you would have consented to hurry withour beloved mother to the shores of the Rhine, to this place where thereal links of the soul were welded between us, where we were doublybrothers; but tell me, are you not really here, in thought and inspirit, when I consider the rich fountain of consolation brought me byyour cordial and tender letter?

"And, you, kind sister-in-law, as you showed yourself from the first, inyour delicate tenderness, a true sister, so I find you again at present. There are still the same tender relations, still the same sisterlyaffection; your consolations, which emanate from a deep and submissivepiety, have fallen refreshingly into the depths of my heart. But, dearsister-in-law, I must tell you, as well as the others, that you aretoo liberal towards me in dispensing your esteem and praises, and yourexaggeration has cast me back face to face with my inmost judge, who hasshown me in the mirror of my conscience the image of my every weakness. 

"You, kind Julia, you desire nothing else but to save me from the fatethat awaits me; and you assure me in your own name and in that of youall, that you, like the others, would rejoice to endure it in my place;in that I recognise you fully, and I recognise, too, those sweet andtender relations in which we have been brought up from childhood. Oh, becomforted, dear Julia; thanks to the protection of God, I promise you:that it will be easy for me, much easier than I should have thought, to bear what falls to my lot. Receive, then, all of you, my warm andsincere thanks for having thus rejoiced my heart. 

"Now that I know from these strengthening letters that, like theprodigal son, the love and goodness of my family are greater on myreturn than at my departure, I will, as carefully as possible, paint foryou my physical and moral state, and I pray God to supplement my wordsby His strength, so that my letter may contain an equivalent of whatyours brought to me, and may help you to reach that state of calm andserenity to which I have myself attained. 

"Hardened, by having gained power over myself, against the good and illof this earth, you knew already that of late years I have lived only formoral joys, and I must say that, touched by my efforts, doubtless, theLord, who is the sacred fount of all that is good, has rendered me aptin seeking them and in tasting them to the full. God is ever near me, asformerly, and I find in Him the sovereign principle of the creation ofall things; in Him, our holy Father, not only consolation and strength, but an unalterable Friend, full of the holiest love, who will accompanyme in all places where I may need His consolations. Assuredly, if He hadturned from me, or if I had turned away my eyes from Him, I should nowfind myself very unfortunate and wretched; but by His grace, on thecontrary, lowly and weak creature as I am, He makes me strong andpowerful against whatever can befall me. 

"What I have hitherto revered as sacred, what I have desired as goodwhat I have aspired to as heavenly, has in no respect changed now. AndI thank God for it, for I should now be in great despair if I werecompelled to recognise that my heart had adored deceptive images andenwrapped itself in fugitive chimeras. Thus my faith in these ideasand my pure love far them, guardian angels of my spirit as they are, increase moment by moment, and will go on increasing to my end, and Ihope that I may pass all the more easily from this world into eternity. I pass my silent life in Christian exaltation and humility, and Isometimes have those visions from above through which I have, from mybirth, adored heaven upon earth, and which give me power to raise myselfto the Lord upon the eager wings of my prayers. My illness, though long, painful, and cruel, has always been sufficiently mastered by my will tolet me busy myself to some result with history, positive sciences, andthe finer parts of religious education, and when my suffering becamemore violent and for a time interrupted these occupations, I struggledsuccessfully, nevertheless, against ennui; for the memories of the past, my resignation to the present, and my faith in the future were richenough and strong enough in me and round me to prevent my falling frommy terrestrial paradise. According to my principles, I would never, inthe position in which I am and in which I have placed myself, have beenwilling to ask anything for my own comfort; but so much kindnessand care have been lavished upon me, with so much delicacy andhumanity, --which alas! I am unable to return--by every person with whomI have been brought into contact, that wishes which I should not havedared to frame in the mast private recesses of my heart have been morethan exceeded. I have never been so much overcome by bodily pains that Icould not say within myself, while I lifted my thoughts to heaven, 'Comewhat may of this ray. ' And great as these gains have been, I could notdream of comparing them with those sufferings of the soul that we feelso profoundly and poignantly in the recognition of our weaknesses andfaults. 

"Moreover, these pains seldom now cause me to lose consciousness; theswelling and inflammation never made great headway, and the fever hasalways been moderate, though for nearly ten months I have been forced toremain lying on my back, unable to raise myself, and although more thanforty pints of matter have come from my chest at the place where theheart is. No, an the contrary, the wound, though still open, is in agood state; and I owe that not only to the excellent nursing around me, but also to the pure blood that I received from you, my mother. Thus Ihave lacked neither earthly assistance nor heavenly encouragement. Thus, on the anniversary of my birth, I had every reason--oh, not to cursethe hour in which I was born, but, on the contrary, after seriouscontemplation of the world, to thank God and you, my dear parents, for the life that you have given me! I celebrated it, on the 18th ofOctober, by a peaceful and ardent submission to the holy will of God. OnChristmas Day I tried to put myself into the temper of children who aredevoted to the Lord; and with God's help the new year will pass like itspredecessor, in bodily pain, perhaps, but certainly in spiritual joy. And with this wish, the only one that I form, I address myself to you, my dear parents, and to you and yours, my dear brothers and sisters. 

"I cannot hope to see a twenty-fifth new year; so may the prayer that Ihave just made be granted! May this picture of my present state affordyou some tranquillity, and may this letter that I write to you from thedepths of my heart not only prove to you that I am not unworthy of theinexpressible love that you all display, but, on the contrary, ensurethis love to me for eternity. 

"Within the last few days I have also received your dear letter of the2nd of December, my kind mother, and the grind-duke's commission hasdeigned to let me also read my kind brother's letter which accompaniedyours. You give me the best of news in regard to the health of all ofyou, and send me preserved fruits from our dear home. I thank you forthem from the bottom of my heart. What causes me most joy in the matteris that you have been solicitously busy about me in summer as in winter, and that you and my dear Julia gathered them and prepared them for me athome, and I abandon my whole soul to that sweet enjoyment. 

"I rejoice sincerely at my little cousin's coming into the world; Ijoyfully congratulate the good parents and the grandparents; I transportmyself, for his baptism, into that beloved parish, where I offer himmy affection as his Christian brother, and call down on him all theblessings of heaven. 

"We shall be obliged, I think, to give up this correspondence, so as notto inconvenience the grand-duke's commission. I finish, therefore, byassuring you, once more, but for the last time, perhaps, of my profoundfilial submission and of my fraternal affection. --Your most tenderlyattached

"KARL-LUDWIG SAND. "

Indeed, from that moment all correspondence between Karl and his familyceased, and he only wrote to them, when he knew his fate, one moreletter, which we shall see later on. 

We have seen by what attentions Sand was surrounded; their humanitynever flagged for an instant. It is the truth, too, that no one saw inhim an ordinary murderer, that many pitied him under their breath, and that some excused him aloud. The very commission appointed by thegrand-duke prolonged the affair as much as possible; for the severity ofSand's wounds had at first given rise to the belief that there wouldbe no need of calling in the executioner, and the commission was wellpleased that God should have undertaken the execution of the judgment. But these expectations were deceived: the skill of the doctor defeated, not indeed the wound, but death: Sand did not recover, but he remainedalive; and it began to be evident that it would be needful to kill him. 

Indeed, the Emperor Alexander, who had appointed Kotzebue hiscouncillor, and who was under no misapprehension as to the cause ofthe murder, urgently demanded that justice should take its course. Thecommission of inquiry was therefore obliged to set to work; but as itsmembers were sincerely desirous of having some pretext to delay theirproceedings, they ordered that a physician from Heidelberg should visitSand and make an exact report upon his case; as Sand was kept lyingdown and as he could not be executed in his bed, they hoped that thephysician's report, by declaring it impossible for the prisoner to rise, would come to their assistance and necessitate a further respite. 

The chosen doctor came accordingly to Mannheim, and introducing himselfto Sand as though attracted by the interest that he inspired, askedhim whether he did not feel somewhat better, and whether it would beimpossible to rise. Sand looked at him for an instant, and then said, with a smile--

"I understand, sir; they wish to know whether I am strong enough tomount a scaffold: I know nothing about it myself, but we will make theexperiment together. "

With these words he rose, and accomplishing, with superhuman courage, what he had not attempted for fourteen months, walked twice round theroom, came back to his bed, upon which he seated himself, and said:

"You see, sir, I am strong enough; it would therefore be wastingprecious time to keep my judges longer about my affair; so let themdeliver their judgment, for nothing now prevents its execution. "

The doctor made his report; there was no way of retreat; Russia wasbecoming more and more pressing, and an the 5th of May 1820 the highcourt of justice delivered the following judgment, which was confirmedon the 12th by His Royal Highness the Grand-Duke of Baden:

"In the matters under investigation and after administration of theinterrogatory and hearing the defences, and considering the unitedopinions of the court of justice at Mannheim and the furtherconsultations of the court of justice which declare the accused, KarlSand of Wonsiedel, guilty of murder, even on his own confession, uponthe person of the Russian imperial Councillor of State, Kotzebue; it isordered accordingly, for his just punishment and for an example thatmay deter other people, that he is to be put from life to death by thesword. 

"All the costs of these investigations, including these occasionedby his public execution, will be defrayed from the funds of the lawdepartment, on account of his want of means. "

We see that, though it condemned the accused to death, which indeedcould hardly be avoided, the sentence was both in form and substance asmild as possible, since, though Sand was convicted, his poor family wasnot reduced by the expenses of a long and costly trial to complete ruin. 

Five days were still allowed to elapse, and the verdict was notannounced until the 17th. When Sand was informed that two councillors ofjustice were at the door, he guessed that they were coming to read hissentence to him; he asked a moment to rise, which he had done but oncebefore, in the instance already narrated, during fourteen months. Andindeed he was so weak that he could not stand to hear the sentence, andafter having greeted the deputation that death sent to him, he askedto sit down, saying that he did so not from cowardice of soul but fromweakness of body; then he added, "You are welcome, gentlemen; far I havesuffered so much for fourteen months past that you come to me as angelsof deliverance. "

He heard the sentence quite unaffectedly and with a gentle smile uponhis lips; then, when the reading was finished, he said--

"I look for no better fate, gentlemen, and when, more than a year ago, Ipaused on the little hill that overlooks the town, I saw beforehand theplace where my grave would be; and so I ought to thank God and man farhaving prolonged my existence up to to-day. "

The councillors withdrew; Sand stood up a second time to greet themon their departure, as he had done on their entrance; then he satdown again pensively in his chair, by which Mr. G, the governor of theprison, was standing. After a moment of silence, a tear appeared at eachof the condemned man's eyelids, and ran down his cheeks; then, turningsuddenly to Mr. G----, whom he liked very much, he said, "I hope that myparents would rather see me die by this violent death than of some slowand shameful disease. As for me, I am glad that I shall soon hear thehour strike in which my death will satisfy those who hate me, and thosewham, according to my principles, I ought to hate. "

Then he wrote to his family. 

"MANNHEIM. 

"17th of the month of spring, 1820. 

"DEAR PARENTS, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS, --You should have received my lastletters through the grand-duke's commission; in them I answered yours, and tried to console you for my position by describing the state ofmy soul as it is, the contempt to which I have attained for everythingfragile and earthly, and by which one must necessarily be overcome whensuch matters are weighed against the fulfilment of an idea, or thatintellectual liberty which alone can nourish the soul; in a word, Itried to console you by the assurance that the feelings, principles, andconvictions of which I formerly spoke are faithfully preserved in meand have remained exactly the same; but I am sure all this was anunnecessary precaution on my part, for there was never a time when youasked anything else of me than to have God before my eyes and in myheart; and you have seen how, under your guidance, this precept sopassed into my soul that it became my sole object of happiness for thisworld and the next; no doubt, as He was in and near me, God will be inand near you at the moment when this letter brings you the news of mysentence. I die willingly, and the Lord will give me strength to die asone ought to die. 

"I write to you perfectly quiet and calm about all things, and I hopethat your lives too will pass calmly and tranquilly until the momentwhen our souls meet again full of fresh force to love one another and toshare eternal happiness together. 

"As for me, such as I have lived as long as I have known myself--thatis to say, in a serenity full of celestial desires and a courageous andindefatigable love of liberty, such I am about to die. 

"May God be with you and with me!--Your son, brother, and friend, "KARL-LUDWIG SAND. "

From that moment his serenity remained untroubled; during the wholeday he talked more gaily than usual, slept well, did not awake untilhalf-past seven, said that he felt stronger, and thanked God forvisiting him thus. 

The nature of the verdict had been known since the day before, and ithad been learned that the execution was fixed for the 20th of May--thatis to say, three full days after the sentence had been read to theaccused. 

Henceforward, with Sand's permission, persons who wished to speak to himand whom he was not reluctant to see, were admitted: three among thesepaid him long and noteworthy visits. 

One was Major Holzungen, of the Baden army, who was in command ofthe patrol that had arrested him, or rather picked him up, dying, andcarried him to the hospital. He asked him whether he recognised him, andSand's head was so clear when he stabbed himself, that although hesaw the major only for a moment and had never seen him again since, heremembered the minutest details of the costume which he had been wearingfourteen months previously, and which was the full-dress uniform. Whenthe talk fell upon the death to which Sand was to submit at so early anage, the major pitied him; but Sand answered, with a smile, "There isonly one difference between you and me, major; it is that I shall diefar my convictions, and you will die for someone else's convictions. "

After the major came a young student from Jena whom Sand had known atthe university. He happened to be in the duchy of Baden and wished tovisit him. Their recognition was touching, and the student wept much;but Sand consoled him with his usual calmness and serenity. 

Then a workman asked to be admitted to see Sand, on the plea that he hadbeen his schoolfellow at Wonsiedel, and although he did not remember hisname, he ordered him to be let in: the workman reminded him that he hadbeen one of the little army that Sand had commanded on the day of theassault of St. Catherine's tower. This indication guided Sand, whorecognised him perfectly, and then spoke with tender affection of hisnative place and his dear mountains. He further charged him to greet hisfamily, and to beg his mother, father, brothers, and sisters once morenot to be grieved on his account, since the messenger who undertook todeliver his last wards could testify in how calm and joyful a temper hewas awaiting death. 

To this workman succeeded one of the guests whom Sand had met on thestaircase directly after Kotzebue's death. He asked him whether heacknowledged his crime and whether he felt any repentance. Sand replied, "I had thought about it during a whole year. I have been thinking of itfor fourteen months, and my opinion has never varied in any respect: Idid what I should have done. "

After the departure of this last visitor, Sand sent for Mr. G----, thegovernor of the prison, and told him that he should like to talk tothe executioner before the execution, since he wished to ask forinstructions as to how he should hold himself so as to render theoperation most certain and easy. Mr. G----made some objections, but Sandinsisted with his usual gentleness, and Mr. G----at last promised thatthe man in question should be asked to call at the prison as soon as hearrived from Heidelberg, where he lived. 

The rest of the day was spent in seeing more visitors and inphilosophical and moral talks, in which Sand developed his social andreligious theories with a lucidity of expression and an elevation ofthought such as he had, perhaps, never before shown. The governor of theprison from whom I heard these details, told me that he should all hislife regret that he did not know shorthand, so that he might have notedall these thoughts, which would have formed a pendant to the Phaedo. 

Night came. Sand spent part of the evening writing; it is thought thathe was composing a poem; but no doubt he burned it, for no trace of itwas found. At eleven he went to bed, and slept until six in the morning. Next day he bore the dressing of his wound, which was always verypainful, with extraordinary courage, without fainting, as he sometimesdid, and without suffering a single complaint to escape him: he hadspoken the truth; in the presence of death God gave him the grace ofallowing his strength to return. The operation was over; Sand was lyingdown as usual, and Mr. G----was sitting on the foot of his bed, when thedoor opened and a man came in and bowed to Sand and to Mr. G----. Thegovernor of the prison immediately stood up, and said to Sand in a voicethe emotion of which he could not conceal, "The person who is bowing toyou is Mr. Widemann of Heidelberg, to whom you wished to speak. "

Then Sand's face was lighted up by a strange joy; he sat up and said, "Sir, you are welcome. " Then, making his visitor sit down by his bed, and taking his hand, he began to thank him for being so obliging, andspoke in so intense a tone and so gentle a voice, that Mr. Widemann, deeply moved, could not answer. Sand encouraged him to speak and to givehim the details for which he wished, and in order to reassure him, said, "Be firm, sir; for I, on my part, will not fail you: I will not move;and even if you should need two or three strokes to separate my headfrom my body, as I am told is sometimes the case, do not be troubled onthat account. "

Then Sand rose, leaning on Mr. G----, to go through with the executionerthe strange and terrible rehearsal of the drama in which he was to playthe leading part on the morrow. Mr. Widemann made him sit in a chairand take the required position, and went into all the details of theexecution with him. Then Sand, perfectly instructed, begged him not tohurry and to take his time. Then he thanked him beforehand; "for, " addedhe, "afterwards I shall not be able. " Then Sand returned to his bed, leaving the executioner paler and more trembling than himself. All thesedetails have been preserved by Mr. G----; for as to the executioner, hisemotion was so great that he could remember nothing. 

After Mr. Widemann, three clergymen were introduced, with whom Sandconversed upon religious matters: one of them stayed six hours with him, and on leaving him told him that he was commissioned to obtain from hima promise of not speaking to the people at the place of execution. Sandgave the promise, and added, "Even if I desired to do so, my voice hasbecome so weak that people could not hear it. "

Meanwhile the scaffold was being erected in the meadow that extends onthe left of the road to Heidelberg. It was a platform five to six feethigh and ten feet wide each way. As it was expected that, thanks to theinterest inspired by the prisoner and to the nearness to Whitsuntide, the crowd would be immense, and as some movement from the universitieswas apprehended, the prison guards had been trebled, and GeneralNeustein had been ordered to Mannheim from Carlsruhe, with twelvehundred infantry, three hundred and fifty cavalry, and a company ofartillery with guns. 

On, the afternoon of the 19th there arrived, as had been foreseen, somany students, who took up their abode in the neighbouring villages, that it was decided to put forward the hour of the execution, and to letit take place at five in the morning instead of at eleven, as had beenarranged. But Sand's consent was necessary for this; for he could not beexecuted until three full days after the reading of his sentence, andas the sentence had not been read to him till half-past ten Sand had aright to live till eleven o'clock. 

Before four in the morning the officials went into the condemned man'sroom; he was sleeping so soundly that they were obliged to awaken him. He opened his eyes with a smile, as was his custom, and guessing whythey came, asked, "Can I have slept so well that it is already eleven inthe morning?" They told him that it was not, but that they had come toask his permission to put forward the time; for, they told him, samecollision between the students and the soldiers was feared, and as themilitary preparations were very thorough, such a collision could notbe otherwise than fatal to his friends. Sand answered that he was readythat very moment, and only asked time enough to take a bath, as theancients were accustomed to do before going into battle. But as theverbal authorisation which he had given was not sufficient, a pen andpaper were given to Sand, and he wrote, with a steady hand and in hisusual writing:

"I thank the authorities of Mannheim for anticipating my most eagerwishes by making my execution six hours earlier. 

"Sit nomen Domini benedictum. 

"From the prison room, May 20th, day of my deliverance. 

"KARL-LUDWIG SAND. "

When Sand had given these two lines to the recorder, the physician cameto him to dress his wound, as usual. Sand looked at him with a smile, and then asked, "Is it really worth the trouble?"

"You will be stronger for it, " answered the physician. 

"Then do it, " said Sand. 

A bath was brought. Sand lay down in it, and had his long and beautifulhair arranged with the greatest care; then his toilet being completed, he put on a frock-coat of the German shape--that is to say, shortand with the shirt collar turned back aver the shoulders, close whitetrousers, and high boots. Then Sand seated himself on his bed and prayedsome time in a low voice with the clergy; then, when he had finished, hesaid these two lines of Korner's:

 "All that is earthly is ended, And the life of heaven begins. "

He next took leave of the physician and the priests, saying to them, "Do not attribute the emotion of my voice to weakness but to gratitude. "Then, upon these gentlemen offering to accompany him to the scaffold, hesaid, "There is no need; I am perfectly prepared, at peace with God andwith my conscience. Besides, am I not almost a Churchman myself?" Andwhen one of them asked whether he was not going out of life in a spiritof hatred, he returned, "Why, good heavens! have I ever felt any?"

An increasing noise was audible from the street, and Sand said againthat he was at their disposal and that he was ready. At this moment theexecutioner came in with his two assistants; he was dressed in a longwadded black coat, beneath which he hid his sword. Sand offered him hishand affectionately; and as Mr. Widemann, embarrassed by the sword whichhe wished to keep Sand from seeing, did not venture to come forward, Sand said to him, "Come along and show me your sword; I have never seenone of the kind, and am curious to know what it is like. "

Mr. Widemann, pale and trembling, presented the weapon to him; Sandexamined it attentively, and tried the edge with his finger. 

"Come, " said he, "the blade is good; do not tremble, and all will gowell. " Then, turning to Mr. G----, who was weeping, he said to him, "Youwill be good enough, will you not, to do me the service of leading me tothe scaffold?"

Mr. G----made a sign of assent with his head, for he could not answer. Sand took his arm, and spoke for the third time, saying once more, "Well, what are you waiting for, gentlemen? I am ready. "

When they reached the courtyard, Sand saw all the prisoners weeping attheir windows. Although he had never seen them, they were old friends ofhis; for every time they passed his door, knowing that the student whohad killed Kotzebue lay within, they used to lift their chain, that hemight not be disturbed by the noise. 

All Mannheim was in the streets that led to the place of execution, andmany patrols were passing up and down. On the day when the sentence wasannounced the whole town had been sought through for a chaise in whichto convey Sand to the scaffold, but no one, not even the coach-builders, would either let one out or sell one; and it had been necessary, therefore, to buy one at Heidelberg without saying for what purpose. 

Sand found this chaise in the courtyard, and got into it with Mr. G----. Turning to him, he whispered in his ear, "Sir, if you see me turn pale, speak my name to me, my name only, do you hear? That will be enough. "

The prison gate was opened, and Sand was seen; then every voice criedwith one impulse, "Farewell, Sand, farewell!"

And at the same time flowers, some of which fell into the carriage, werethrown by the crowd that thronged the street, and from the windows. Atthese friendly cries and at this spectacle, Sand, who until then hadshown no moment of weakness, felt tears rising in spite of himself, andwhile he returned the greetings made to him on all sides, he murmured ina low voice, "O my God, give me courage!"

This first outburst over, the procession set out amid deep silence; onlynow and again same single voice would call out, "Farewell, Sand!" anda handkerchief waved by some hand that rose out of the crowd would showfrom what paint the last call came. On each side of the chaise walkedtwo of the prison officials, and behind the chaise came a secondconveyance with the municipal authorities. 

The air was very cold: it had rained all night, and the dark and cloudysky seemed to share in the general sadness. Sand, too weak to remainsitting up, was half lying upon the shoulder of Mr. G-----, hiscompanion; his face was gentle, calm and full of pain; his brow free andopen, his features, interesting though without regular beauty, seemed tohave aged by several years during the fourteen months of suffering thathad just elapsed. The chaise at last reached the place of execution, which was surrounded by a battalion of infantry; Sand lowered his eyesfrom heaven to earth and saw the scaffold. At this sight he smiledgently, and as he left the carriage he said, "Well, God has given mestrength so far. "

The governor of the prison and the chief officials lifted him that hemight go up the steps. During that short ascent pain kept him bowed, butwhen he had reached the top he stood erect again, saying, "Here then isthe place where I am to die!"

Then before he came to the chair on which he was to be seated for theexecution, he turned his eyes towards Mannheim, and his gaze travelledover all the throng that surrounded him; at that moment a ray ofsunshine broke through the clouds. Sand greeted it with a smile and satdown. 

Then, as, according to the orders given, his sentence was to be read tohim a second time, he was asked whether he felt strong enough to hearit standing. Sand answered that he would try, and that if his physicalstrength failed him, his moral strength would uphold him. He roseimmediately from the fatal chair, begging Mr. G----to stand near enoughto support him if he should chance to stagger. The precaution wasunnecessary, Sand did not stagger. 

After the judgment had been read, he sat down again and said in a laudvoice, "I die trusting in God. "

But at these words Mr. G------interrupted him. 

"Sand, " said he, "what did you promise?"

"True, " he answered; "I had forgotten. " He was silent, therefore, to thecrowd; but, raising his right hand and extending it solemnly in the air, he said in a low voice, so that he might be heard only by those whowere around him, "I take God to witness that I die for the freedom ofGermany. "

Then, with these words, he did as Conradin did with his glove; he threwhis rolled-up handkerchief over the line of soldiers around him, intothe midst of the people. 

Then the executioner came to cut off his hair; but Sand at firstobjected. 

"It is for your mother, " said Mr. Widemann. 

"On your honour, sir?" asked Sand. 

"On my honour. "

"Then do it, " said Sand, offering his hair to the executioner. 

Only a few curls were cut off, those only which fell at the back, theothers were tied with a ribbon on the top of the head. The executionerthen tied his hands on his breast, but as that position was oppressiveto him and compelled him an account of his wound to bend his head, his hands were laid flat on his thighs and fixed in that positionwith ropes. Then, when his eyes were about to be bound, he begged Mr. Widemann to place the bandage in such a manner that he could see thelight to his last moment. His wish was fulfilled. 

Then a profound and mortal stillness hovered over the whole crowd andsurrounded the scaffold. The executioner drew his sword, which flashedlike lightning and fell. Instantly a terrible cry rose at once fromtwenty thousand bosoms; the head had not fallen, and though it had sunktowards the breast still held to the neck. The executioner struck asecond time, and struck off at the same blow the head and a part of thehand. 

In the same moment, notwithstanding the efforts of the soldiers, theirline was broken through; men and women rushed upon the scaffold, theblood was wiped up to the last drop with handkerchiefs; the chair uponwhich Sand had sat was broken and divided into pieces, and those whocould not obtain one, cut fragments of bloodstained wood from thescaffold itself. 

The head and body were placed in a coffin draped with black, and carriedback, with a large military escort, to the prison. At midnight thebody was borne silently, without torches or lights, to the Protestantcemetery, in which Kotzebue had been buried fourteen months previously. A grave had been mysteriously dug; the coffin was lowered into it, andthose who were present at the burial were sworn upon the New Testamentnot to reveal the spot where Sand was buried until such time as theywere freed from their oath. Then the grave was covered again with theturf, that had been skilfully taken off, and that was relaid on thesame spat, so that no new grave could be perceived; then the nocturnalgravediggers departed, leaving guards at the entrance. 

There, twenty paces apart, Sand and Kotzebue rest: Kotzebue opposite thegate in the most conspicuous spot of the cemetery, and beneath a tombupon which is engraved this inscription:

"The world persecuted him without pity, Calumny was his sad portion, Hefound no happiness save in the arms of his wife, And no repose save inthe bosom of death. Envy dogged him to cover his path with thorns, Lovebade his roses blossom; May Heaven pardon him As he pardons earth!"

In contrast with this tall and showy monument, standing, as we havesaid, in the most conspicuous spot of the cemetery, Sand's grave must belooked far in the corner to the extreme left of the entrance gate; anda wild plum tree, some leaves of which every passing traveller carriesaway, rises alone upon the grave, which is devoid of any inscription. 

As far the meadow in which Sand was executed, it is still called by thepeople "Sand's Himmelsfartsweise, " which signifies "The manner of Sand'sascension. "

Toward the end of September, 1838, we were at Mannheim, where I hadstayed three days in order to collect all the details I could find aboutthe life and death of Karl-Ludwig Sand. But at the end of these threedays, in spite of my active investigations, these details still remainedextremely incomplete, either because I applied in the wrong quarters, orbecause, being a foreigner, I inspired same distrust in those to whom Iapplied. I was leaving Mannheim, therefore, somewhat disappointed, and after having visited the little Protestant cemetery where Sand andKotzebue are buried at twenty paces from each other, I had ordered mydriver to take the road to Heidelberg, when, after going a few yards, he, who knew the object of my inquiries, stopped of himself and asked mewhether I should not like to see the place where Sand was executed. Atthe same time he pointed to a little mound situated in the middle of ameadow and a few steps from a brook. I assented eagerly, and althoughthe driver remained on the highroad with my travelling companions, Isoon recognised the spot indicated, by means of some relics of cypressbranches, immortelles, and forget-me-nots scattered upon the earth. Itwill readily be understood that this sight, instead of diminishing mydesire for information, increased it. I was feeling, then, more thanever dissatisfied at going away, knowing so little, when I saw a manof some five-and-forty to fifty years old, who was walking a littledistance from the place where I myself was, and who, guessing the causethat drew me thither, was looking at me with curiosity. I determinedto make a last effort, and going up to him, I said, "Oh, sir, I am astranger; I am travelling to collect all the rich and poetic traditionsof your Germany. By the way in which you look at me, I guess that youknow which of them attracts me to this meadow. Could you give me anyinformation about the life and death of Sand?"

"With what object, sir?" the person to whom I spoke asked me in almostunintelligible French. 

"With a very German object, be assured, sir, " I replied. "From thelittle I have learned, Sand seems to me to be one of those ghosts thatappear only the greater and the more poetic for being wrapped in ashroud stained with blood. But he is not known in France; he might beput on the same level there with a Fieschi or a Meunier, and I wish, tothe best of my ability, to enlighten the minds of my countrymen abouthim. "

"It would be a great pleasure to me, sir, to assist in such anundertaking; but you see that I can scarcely speak French; you do notspeak German at all; so that we shall find it difficult to understandeach other. "

"If that is all, " I returned, "I have in my carriage yonder aninterpreter, or rather an interpretress, with whom you will, I hope, bequite satisfied, who speaks German like Goethe, and to whom, when youhave once begun to speak to her, I defy you not to tell everything. "

"Let us go, then, sir, " answered the pedestrian. "I ask no better thanto be agreeable to you. "

We walked toward the carriage, which was still waiting on the highroad, and I presented to my travelling companion the new recruit whom I hadjust gained. The usual greetings were exchanged, and the dialogue beganin the purest Saxon. Though I did not understand a word that was said, it was easy for me to see, by the rapidity of the questions and thelength of the answers, that the conversation was most interesting. Atlast, at the end of half an hours growing desirous of knowing to whatpoint they had come, I said, "Well?"

"Well, " answered my interpreter, "you are in luck's way, and you couldnot have asked a better person. "

"The gentleman knew Sand, then?"

"The gentleman is the governor of the prison in which Sand wasconfined. "

"Indeed?"

"For nine months--that is to say, from the day he left the hospital--this gentleman saw him every day. "

"Excellent!"

"But that is not all: this gentleman was with him in the carriage thattook him to execution; this gentleman was with him on the scaffold;there's only one portrait of Sand in all Mannheim, and this gentlemanhas it. "

I was devouring every word; a mental alchemist, I was opening mycrucible and finding gold in it. 

"Just ask, " I resumed eagerly, "whether the gentleman will allow us totake down in writing the particulars that he can give me. "

My interpreter put another question, then, turning towards me, said, "Granted. "

Mr. G----got into the carriage with us, and instead of going on toHeidelberg, we returned to Mannheim, and alighted at the prison. 

Mr. G---did not once depart from the ready kindness that he had shown. In the most obliging manner, patient over the minutest trifles, andremembering most happily, he went over every circumstance, puttinghimself at my disposal like a professional guide. At last, when everyparticular about Sand had been sucked dry, I began to ask him about themanner in which executions were performed. "As to that, " said he, "I canoffer you an introduction to someone at Heidelberg who can give you allthe information you can wish for upon the subject. "

I accepted gratefully, and as I was taking leave of Mr. G----, afterthanking him a thousand times, he handed me the offered letter. It borethis superscription: "To Herr-doctor Widemann, No. III High Street, Heidelberg. "

I turned to Mr. G----once more. 

"Is he, by chance, a relation of the man who executed Sand?" I asked. 

"He is his son, and was standing by when the head fell. ". 

"What is his calling, then?"

"The same as that of his father, whom he succeeded. "

"But you call him 'doctor'?"

"Certainly; with us, executioners have that title. "

"But, then, doctors of what?"

"Of surgery. "

"Really?" said I. "With us it is just the contrary; surgeons are calledexecutioners. "

"You will find him, moreover, " added Mr. G----, "a very distinguishedyoung man, who, although he was very young at that time, has retaineda vivid recollection of that event. As for his poor father, I thinkhe would as willingly have cut off his own right hand as have executedSand; but if he had refused, someone else would have been found. So hehad to do what he was ordered to do, and he did his best. "

I thanked Mr. G----, fully resolving to make use of his letter, and weleft for Heidelberg, where we arrived at eleven in the evening. 

My first visit next day was to Dr. Widernann. It was not withoutsome emotion, which, moreover, I saw reflected upon, the faces of mytravelling companions, that I rang at the door of the last judge, asthe Germans call him. An old woman opened the door to us, and ushered usinto a pretty little study, on the left of a passage and at the foot ofa staircase, where we waited while Mr. Widemann finished dressing. Thislittle room was full of curiosities, madrepores, shells, stuffed birds, and dried plants; a double-barrelled gun, a powder-flask, and a game-bagshowed that Mr. Widemann was a hunter. 

After a moment we heard his footstep, and the door opened. Mr. Widemannwas a very handsome young man, of thirty or thirty-two, with blackwhiskers entirely surrounding his manly and expressive face; his morningdress showed a certain rural elegance. He seemed at first not onlyembarrassed but pained by our visit. The aimless curiosity of whichhe seemed to be the object was indeed odd. I hastened to give him Mr. G----'s letter and to tell him what reason brought me. Then he graduallyrecovered himself, and at last showed himself no less hospitable andobliging towards us than he to whom we owed the introduction had been, the day before. 

Mr. Widemann then gathered together all his remembrances; he, too, hadretained a vivid recollection of Sand, and he told us among other thingsthat his father, at the risk of bringing himself into ill odour, hadasked leave to have a new scaffold made at his own expense, so that noother criminal might be executed upon the altar of the martyr's death. Permission had been given, and Mr. Widemann had used the wood of thescaffold for the doors and windows of a little country house standingin a vineyard. Then for three or four years this cottage became a shrinefor pilgrims; but after a time, little by little, the crowd grew less, and at the present day, when some of those who wiped the blood fromthe scaffold with their handkerchiefs have became public functionaries, receiving salaries from Government, only foreigners ask, now and again, to see these strange relics. 

Mr. Widemann gave me a guide; for, after hearing everything, I wanted tosee everything. The house stands half a league away from Heidelberg, onthe left of the road to Carlsruhe, and half-way up the mountain-side. Itis perhaps the only monument of the kind that exists in the world. 

Our readers will judge better from this anecdote than from anythingmore we could say, what sort of man he was who left such a memory in thehearts of his gaoler and his executioner.